Live by the sword. Die by the sword. There is no love, there is no emotion. There is only honor. Only duty. Only God. This was the code of the Shrine Knight. This was the code that Meliadoul Tingel lived by. And it was because of this code that her deepest wish could never be fulfilled.

She was deeply in love with Ramza Beoulve. Every night, she lay awake just thinking about him, eyes closed, hands behind her head entwined in her raven hair, and a tiny smile on her face. She didn't know if Agrias suspected her feelings for Ramza, but Meliadoul suspected that Agrias had feelings for him too. Agrias and Meliadoul were pretty much best friends since they were forced to share a room since the defeat of Zalera at Limberry. She hadn't joined the party right away, she needed a couple days to deal with all the stuff she had just gone through. Elmdor's betrayal, Izlude's death, the possibility that she herself might be a Zodiac Brave. Everyone besides Agrias thought she went back to her childhood home in Ivalice to get some personal effects of her brother, but she had really gone to the relative peace and quiet of Poeskos Lake. An eerie silence, but it gave her time to think. Time to meditate. And in that time, she thought about Sagittarius and the effects it might have on her. It scared the Hell out of her, but she eventually came to understand that as long as Ramza held Sagittarius, she was probably safe. That was probably the moment that she started developing feelings for him.

"Yes sister, I believe that was it," Meliadoul heard a familiar voice resonate throughout the black expanse. "Either that or the time he saved you from Adramelk."

Meliadoul's eyes snapped open and she frantically scanned the darkness, scarcely wanting to believe her ears. It couldn't possibly be.

"Izlude?" she asked the darkness hopefully, wide-eyed and childlike. She took a step forward and the vast expanse of darkness turned gradually into her childhood home on the outskirts of Zarghidas. It was nothing more than a tiny hut with a rather large front yard that she and Izlude used to play in. The inside was just as simple as most other "houses" in Zarghidas: two rooms, one for Izlude and Meliadoul, and one for their parents, a kitchen, a living room, and an outhouse out back. They had to eat their meals in their rooms or outside like a picnic because there was no dining room. Behind their house by a few hundred yards was a large rock that she and Izlude used to play on. And behind that by a few hundred feet was a dark, dank cave where their father had found something and was supposed to be researching it. A tooth-shaped, golden colored jewel had been hidden somewhere in that cave until their father had found it. He knew there was some secret about it, but he couldn't for the life of him figure out what it was.

"Now we know that it was Leo, but he didn't figure that out right away," Izlude commented, now sitting next to Meliadoul on the rock they used to play on.

"Izlude," Meliadoul asked. "Why are you back? I thought father- excuse me, Hashmalum, killed you at Riovones." She spat when she said the Regulator's name.

"Well, sister," Izlude explained. "After Altima launched her last attack, she sent all of those present, including our old friend Kletian, through a tear in the fabric of space and now you and I are stranded in limbo unless I can help you understand some aspect of your life."

"Oh," Meliadoul said simply, not one much for words. "Why aren't you in Heaven little brother? You were a good man in your short life."

"Well," Izlude explained. "I suppose it's because I worked for a corrupt church, and helped, in my own small way, to bring Ajora back to life."

"Oh," Meliadoul said again. She was still supremely confused about this whole thing. "So, um, what is this aspect I have to understand?"

"Just watch," Izlude replied simply. They both watched their father, about ten years younger, walk into the cave with Leo in it. "And fast forward…" Everything moved in fast motion, and Meliadoul felt like she was going to be sick.

"So, this is it? This is how father got Leo?" Meliadoul asked tentatively. "I always figured that Funeral gave it to him, you know, because this was all the High Priest's plot."

"Au contraire, my dear sister," Izlude replied. "Poor Funeral was a mere puppet. Hashmalum was the puppeteer behind the entire play. You just need to understand why it was father that he chose to inhabit.

The scene changed once again to the front of the house. Meliadoul and Izlude were playing quietly in the front yard while their mother, Ursula Tingel, watched them while they played. Their father was training in the backyard. Meliadoul's heart sank as she realized what day this must have to be. Sure enough, she saw a man in turquoise robes and a belt made of silver. He brandished what she now knew to be a Save the Queen sword. It was Rofel Wodring.

"Why don't I remember that Rofel attacked our house?" Meliadoul asked her brother. "I must have been at least nine years old, old enough to remember something like this."

"Well, that was one of the court mages in Murond," her brother replied. "I believe his name was Zalmo Rusnada. He erased our memories of Rofel from this memory. It was much easier than erasing the memory itself. That is why you and I never really trusted Rofel."

"Ah," Meliadoul replied. "That makes sense."

"Wait, they're fighting now," Izlude shushed her, waving his hand backwards in her direction. "Stay quiet."

Rofel walked up past the young Izlude and put his hand on his head and ruffled his hair, and young Izlude cried. His sister tried to comfort him by holding him a little, and he stopped. Rofel smiled that sadistic smile of his and continued walking over to their mother. The children looked back at his troops. There were about a dozen or so of them, and they all stood perfectly still. Behind the last soldier they could see a young boy with chocolate colored hair looking fearfully out from behind his hiding place. Young Meliadoul's gaze hovered on this young boy that she now assumed was Kletian.

"Ursula, how nice to see you again," Rofel said, his dry voice dripping with sarcasm. "How's the family? Not really receptive to the human touch are they?"

"No, they are," their mother said, returning the honeyed sarcasm Rofel had shown her. "If a human had touched them that is."

"Still the same girl you were when you married Vormav aren't you," Rofel said, and he followed that statement with an unholy chuckle. The two Tingel children winced. By now, Izlude was holding onto his older sister for dear life. "But speaking of the devil, where is your husband? He should be out here watching his two little devil spawn."

"Don't ever refer to my children as devil spawn, you evil bastard," Vormav said from the side of the house. "Now get off my property or I will make you leave."

"Glenn, take young master Drowa back home," Rofel said over his shoulder, and one of the knights pulled the young boy up onto a golden chocobo, and they rode off down the path back to the main city of Zarghidas. The young children had had enough and ran down over to their rock and hid behind it. "Now, my dear Vormav, we are all alone. Well, not all alone, but alone enough."

"Bastard!" Vormav gripped his own Save the Queen and lunged at Rofel. With inhuman speed, Rofel brought his sword up and knocked Vormav's strike to his right. He elbowed Vormav in the back, and he went down like a sack of potatoes.

"Come on, Tingel," Rofel crowed. "You'll have to do better than that! It's just me fighting you. I'm not even being helped. A member of Sir Orlandu's famed Angel Knights shouldn't even break a sweat!" Vormav got up again, wiped the blood off his lip, and struck with practiced precision at Rofel's head. Rofel easily parried this blow too. Now he seemed to be getting more serious because he used his sword on his next attack. He formed an uppercut with his sword and hit Vormav under the chin with the hilt. Then, he sliced a thin, red wound through his stomach. Vormav cried out and staggered back. Rofel used some of his own swordskills to disarm Vormav, and then, he used Shellbust Stab and impaled him onto the wall of his own house.

Then, all Hell broke loose. Ursula jumped in the battle with some powerful Geomancy, and the other warriors overwhelmed her and took her away. Vormav could only watch as one of the knights strapped her to a chocobo and rode away. Then the other knights turned on him. Vormav tried to render them defenseless with his Hellcry Punch, but there were simply too many, and he was simply too weak. He killed one or two before Rofel called them all off.

"He's mine boys," Rofel said. He called away the curved blade of magic from Vormav's stomach. "Not so tough now are we Tingel? Grab the children."

Vormav tried to move, but the pain was too great. He knew he was dying. Then, something extraordinary happened. The stone in his pocket began to talk.

"Holder of the Holy Stone... Promise me.…" it said, and Vormav could see his daughter fighting bravely to try and keep the knights away from her beloved younger brother. "Your spirit will unite with my flesh to live forever."

"But… how…" Vormav managed to choke out through all the blood he had swallowed.

"Your despair and resentment called me…" the stone continued, glowing a bright golden color. "Now promise…"

"Give me the strength… to save… my family…" Vormav said as he felt the last breath of life leave his body. The stone rose out of his pocket and floated above him, giving off that golden glow the entire time. The light around him started to flash, and spirits and lights began to leave the stone and enter his cold, near-death body. Rofel cracked a slight, but still incredibly sadistic smile.

"Good," he said shortly, and teleported out of the battle, probably back to Murond. Meanwhile, Vormav had transformed into a gigantic lion-like creature in purple robes. His massive claws raked through the poor soldiers left behind terrorizing his children. He picked one up in his right hand, growled at him, and then with his left hand ripped out his ribcage and threw it at the others. Incredibly disheartened, the few that were left ran. Fast. But the Regulator was faster, stronger, and better. He grabbed a soldier in each hand, and bit their heads off and spit them back at the one lone monk left over. The soldier started to back into the cave where the Holy Stone was found. The lion demon picked up Meliadoul and Izlude's rock with his superhuman strength, and slammed it down on top of the poor monk. A sickening crunch was heard as he was crushed to death.

Another flash of light lit up the air as the demon transformed back into Vormav. But this time, there was something different about him. Something older, more sinister. As if the demon was still standing there, but in the form of Vormav Tingel. Of course, his two children picked up on this right away.

"Daddy?" his daughter piped up from her hiding place behind her house. Her cheeks were stained with tears, and her brother was practically catatonic. "Where'd they take mommy?"

"That's exactly what I intend to find out," Vormav said, his voice different, deeper. He began to walk slowly away, not waiting for his two children. The young Meliadoul quickly grabbed her brother by the arm and caught up with her father.

"Where did they take our mother?" Meliadoul asked her brother after the initial horror of the sight she had just witnessed had worn away. "If you know, then tell me. That must be the aspect of my life: finding our mother."

"No," Izlude corrected. "Don't you see yet? You had to realize that everything Father did, he did for us. He gave up his own soul so we could live."

"And then killed you later on," Meliadoul pointed out. "Don't forget about that little brother. God, that bastard Hashmalum." She spat on the ground like she was taught when she had to swear.

"But still, I would like to know where Mother is," Meliadoul continued. "Please. I've heard that all the thoughts of the living are revealed to the dead. Help me find her."

"I'm so sorry Meliadoul," Izlude replied. "I can't do that. But, you will meet her soon enough, I promise you that. Just hold out a little longer. And, when you do meet her, tell mother that I love her."

"Okay little brother," Meliadoul replied blinking the tears away. "I will. Have a good time up in Heaven."

"Oh god, you have no idea how much I wish I could give you a hug goodbye Melly," Izlude said, apparently crying too. He sniffed, and Meliadoul smiled. "But we'll see each other again someday. I promise.

Then the whole place glowed white.

A/N: Well, what do you think? I always loved Meliadoul. I mean, she's got the whole guilt trip going for her, and her crazy family history is always fun to play off of. Well, next is the final 'generic' Ophelia Kaishou.